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India received a jolt on the eve of the first One-Day International (ODI) against the West Indies as pacer Praveen Kumar, the most successful Indian bowler in the Test series in England, was ruled out on Monday owing to a chest injury.

Captain Virender Sehwag said that Praveen has an injury and has not arrived in Cuttack, without elaborating. "He has a niggle. He is not available for the first match. He will join the team tomorrow or the day after," Sehwag told reporters. He didn't say if a replacement would be named.

However, late in the evening the BCCI said in a statement that Praveen has a chest problem. "Praveen has got a blunt chest on the left side, and has, therefore, been ruled out of the first three ODIs against the West Indies. Abhimanyu Mithun will replace him in the squad for the first three games," BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale said.

It's possible that Praveen, who captured 15 wickets in three Tests in England in Zaheer Khan's absence, got injured during Uttar Pradesh's Ranji Trophy game against Saurashtra in Meerut from November 10-13. In the first innings, he opened the attack and bowled 27 overs and bagged two wickets. But in the second, he surprisingly came on to bowl as the eighth of the 10 bowlers used by captain Suresh Raina.

The Meerut-based Praveen didn't play Uttar Pradesh's next match, against Orissa at Sambalpur, possibly due to the same injury. However, when contacted, sources in the UP team said that the BCCI had "instructed Praveen to rest".

R Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, and Varun Aaron are the other pacers in the squad. All three available pacers could play the day-night game, though they are unlikely to get much assistance from the barren-looking pitch, with curator Pankaj Pattnaik terming it "batsmen-friendly". There are three spinners in the squad - R Ashwin, Rahul Sharma, and Ravindra Jadeja - but only two may play. Jadeja, the most successful Indian bowler with 11 wickets in the recent five-ODI home series against England, is seen as more of an all-rounder.

Off-spinner Ashwin, man of the Test series and man of the match in the third Test that concluded on Saturday in Mumbai, is expected to be the other slow bowler to play.

There is some uncertainty about the Indian opening pair. Sehwag, who led the team when the last ODI was played here against Sri Lanka in December 2009, said his opening partner was yet to be decided. "We'll have a meeting tonight or tomorrow to decide who'll open with me. I'm sure that I'm opening, but we'll take a call on who'll open with me," he said. "I'd love to open with Gautam (Gambhir). But we have to look at our team combination as well."

Ajinkya Rahane had opened with Parthiv Patel and Gautam Gambhir in the home ODI series against England last month when Sehwag was out of the team due to a shoulder injury.

Parthiv had then played as a specialist batsman and opened the innings while Mahendra Singh Dhoni kept wickets. But Dhoni has been rested for this fivematch ODI series and the diminutive Gujarat player will be the wicketkeeper and is unlikely to open the innings as either Gambhir or Rahane may partner Sehwag. That leaves Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, and Manoj Tiwary to compete for the middleorder slots while an ailing Yuvraj Singh has opted out of the series.

West Indies have made six changes to their squad that lost the three-Test series 0-2, including rookie top-order batsman Jason Mohammed and off-spinner Sunil Narine. Mohammed, 25, and Narine, 23, were rewarded for their good performances in the Caribbean's Regional Super50 tournament. Captain Darren Sammy, who led the team that lost 2-3 to India in June in the Caribbean, was optimistic about the series.

"We are looking forward to what could be a very exciting fivematch ODI series. Both teams have equally capable players who can make an impact," he said. "(Kieron) Pollard has a lot of experience playing in India. We hope that it will be an evenly-contested series. We have the belief that we will come out well and look to win matches as well."

The 16th ODI to be played in Cuttack promises to be a highscoring game, and the pitch has been prepared with that aim. It looks brownish-yellow and a packed house of 45,000-plus spectators is likely to enjoy the match.